This Interagency Agreement (IAA) is between the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (N1ST), Technology Administration, US Department of Commerce (DOC). In FY 2008, NIST will prepare and distribute biological reference materials in support of the NCI Clinical Proteomic Technology Initiative for Cancer (CPTI). The NCI and NIST developed a partnership that leverages each agency's core expertise and resources to facilitate science and technology development to improve the US, economy and decrease the death and suffering due to cancer.[unreadable] This IAA between NCI and NIST will assist in accomplishing several of the goals outlined in that MOU in the area of proteomics. The NCI has major initiatives to support the development and assessment of novel protein detection technologies, These initiatives arc designed, in part, to develop baseline standards for proteomic technologies, including reference reagents, biological mixtures, protocols, standard operating procedures, instrumentation, and proteomic workflows (sample acquisition;preparation and analysis platforms). A critical component needed to achieve the goals of these initiatives will be the development of proteomic measurement. assessment materials for instrument calibration, experimental ,QA/QC, data comparison, and analytical validation of experimental results. Based on its mission, NIST has the mandate to provide measurement services to support innovation and improved quality of life and has unique capabilities and expertise in the qualification and characterization of peptide and protein-based standards. Such high quality, well-characterized and protein mixtures and biological samples will be a key resource in evaluating proteomic technologies and wilI be essential for evaluating technology capabilities, standardizing workflow processes to reduce experimental variation, comparing experimental results, and consolidating qualified data from different experiments.